ACFE Insights

One aspect of fraud examinations that is constantly changing is the use of technology for fraud prevention and detection, with an emphasis on detection. From rules-based systems, fraud analytics and artificial intelligence-based programs, examiners look to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their work through the use of technology. However, it is critical to the management of fraud risk that examiners focus more of their efforts on the use of data and technology on the mitigation of fraud risk.

As the world witnesses a surge in fraud incidents, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for fraud detection could be the key to saving millions of dollars in financial fraud losses. Organizations worldwide are increasing their investment in AI-based fraud detection solutions, indicating that the industry is bullish on the capabilities of AI in fraud.

As of April 2018, the global population is 7.6 billion and 4.2 billion of us reportedly use the internet. There are 3.3 billion active social media users, which means that 70% of people using the internet also have one or more social media accounts. This number is expected to increase to 90% in the next three years. As a fraud analytics professional, this tells me the majority of people who have access to the internet may also be trackable on social media.

A recent article in The Atlantic discussed how a scientific researcher is leveraging new software to address the issue of fraud in scientific studies. Though typically I focus more on the application of analytics for occupational fraud, this article showcases how unstructured data (data that doesn’t fit nicely into a row/column or tabular format) can be used to identify red flags of fraud.

In today’s world, it’s not uncommon to see headlines about a new instance of fraud many times a week. Whether it’s a new phishing scam targeting seniors or the arrest of a low-level employee embezzling small amounts from a local government office, most fraud-related issues are interesting to the public regardless of their profession. Since anti-fraud professionals are on the front line of fraud prevention and investigation, it’s also predictable that family and friends may turn to you for clarification of these fraud-related stories.